The first round of regional elections on April 9 marked the rise of Nippon Ishin no Kai — which recorded significant wins in its Kansai stronghold — and signaled an ever-deepening decline of forces on the left side of the political spectrum.
Even in areas like Hokkaido, a stronghold of the now defunct Japan Socialist Party, the incumbent governor Naomichi Suzuki, supported by conservative forces, was re-elected with a support rate of over 75% — with exit polls showing approximately 80% of voters between the ages of 18 and 30 endorsed him.
Notably, the poor performance of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) — bringing the number of prefectural assemblies without a single party representative up from one to five — has drawn attention to the shrinkage of traditional liberal parties.
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